As you finish reading "1984," I want you to think about a question that has come up in our previous discussions -- "Can you compare the society of Oceania (under Big Brother) to any other countries in today's world?" After all, it's nice to have a theory and write a book about it, but does it really exist? Well, there are many places in the world (including our own society) where you could make some comparisons between that society and that of Oceania. In my mind, however, there is no nation that comes closer to the ideals of "1984" than North Korea. Here's a prediction -- sometime in our lifetime, the government of North Korea will fall, and when it does, and people see the conditions under which the North Korean people are living, it's going to be the most shocking story of the decade.

A few years ago, Lisa Ling, a reporter for National Geographic, traveled to North Korea. I will let you judge for yourself whether the government and people of North Korea bare any resemblance to the situation in Oceania. The video is a bit more lengthy than I normally post (46 minutes) but you're on vacation right? You've got nothing but time! Keep in mind that this video was not made that long ago and that people in North Korea are still living under these exact same conditions.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxLBywKrTf4

I would appreciate your comments on the video no later than Sunday night, 11pm.

The first thing I noticed that automatically caught my attention were people bowing down at pictures and statues of Kim Jong-il as if he were a god. That really scared me. There were statues and images of him everywhere, and people had to salute or bow at his presence. It reminded me of all the Big Brother in "1984". It was also said that North Korea isolated itself from the rest of the world. They also couldn't share information outside North Korea and they ban items like cellphones and the internet. In literature, Kim Jong-il's father was the only author. There was a Korean, who I think was guarding the statue of Kim Jong-il, who threatened to kick out the guy with the camera out of the country for taking a picture of the statue. I think all of the Koreans look brainwashed, almost possessed. Even the children were convinced that their "Great Leader" is their savior. What really surprised me was the border that split North and South Korea. It is impossible to cross it unless you want to die and early death because the are land mines, electric fences, and soldiers securing the border. This border is called the DMZ, or Demilitarize Zone. It appears that Korea still has something against America and foreigners.

Reply

Andrew

2/19/2010 10:32:44 am

Okay this video is just crazy! These people are just so hypnotized into thinking that their Leader is basically a g-d! I am both astonished and amazed that these people think what this man is doing a wonderful think. They need to get over their grudges of what happened years ago and move on into the future. I agree with Randy, i got the chills when i saw them praising that picture. Not to be mean, but like that man actually cares if they had their sight or not. What happened to thanking the doctor? He was the one who really gave them sight. We should just invade with South Korea and take over the north.

Reply

Katherine

2/21/2010 08:58:23 am

Whoa this video is astonishing. I feel that it definitely is the same thing as in 1984, people in the video praise the picture of this man. In 1984 everyone has to praise Big Brothers picture as well. The people seem to adore this man, but I think that they are actually just acting, just like in the book, these people must be acting because they are afraid of what might happen if they don't follow the rules. What Andrew said was funny, I'd like to see HIM join the army and try doing that. :)

Reply

Andreina

2/21/2010 09:31:46 am

The video honestly frightened me. It was unbelievable how people can praise a person with such intensity. North Korea is almost the exact replica of Oceania in the book 1984. There are people who are suffering from poverty and are hardly taken care of which will be the Proles in 1984. I felt horrible when I saw the babies and children who were dying and are growing up almost deformed because they are not receiving enough nutrition. How can the Koreans in North Korea still praise Kim II Jung when he is responsible for the killings of so many innocent kids? Then again they do not have a chose; just like 1984 they are controlled by fear as well. They have concentration camps where hardly no one who has entered ever left alive which in 1984 will be the Ministry of Love. I agree with Andrew not one of the people in the video who had the surgery thanked the medical crew for helping them receive their sight back, all they did was go to the picture of their dictator and say how they will always love him and kill every American enemy. What I found sick and not in a good way was the song that the mother had her daughter sing about how all Americans are pathetic and should all cry for mercy. I also agree with Katherine I will love to watch Andrew go into North Korea and try to take it over.

Reply

Ms. Cohen

2/21/2010 09:45:50 am

Hey all... I just thought I'd let you know that if you want to know what a war in Korea might look like, google it. We already did it. From 1950-1953, we had a war in Korea. Unfortunately, it always gets forgotten about because it's in between World War II and Vietnam, which get all of the attention. We can discuss it on Wednesday, but it was an interesting type of war. It is called the "Forgotten War" for obvious reasons.

There are different estimates of how many died in the war, but overall, for everyone, there were probably about 3 million people killed (not including civilians (non-military). The United States alone had over 33,000 men die in the war and over 92,000 men wounded. Over 7,000 were taken prisoner of war and over 2,800 died in POW camps. Nowadays, the problem with attacking North Korea is that they have an army of 1 MILLION men and they have nuclear bombs. They might not do anything to take care of their people, but they DO take care of their army, which is how they stay in power. It is also what intimidates the rest of the world into doing nothing about what's going on in North Korea.

Reply

Regina

2/22/2010 07:58:14 am

Reply

Regina

2/22/2010 08:55:44 am

While watching I became extremely frustrated with the general and the control he had over the people of North Korea. When reading 1984, I didn’t truly allow myself to care whether people were living just like George Orwell predicted. Now that I have watched this video and learned that a country that I didn’t even care to learn about is living under such circumstances makes me feel a great deal of remorse. General Kim is ruling North Korea by the way his father lead the country; leadership based on a grudge he had held after WWII. Kim is a very rich man but because of his selfishness and the way he chooses to rule, the country is suffering mentally and physically than almost many poor countries in the world. I believe the reason foreign countries haven’t stepped forward to help the people of North Korea are obviously based on the kind of power and weapons the country has. They even threaten the people with concentration camps if they try to do anything that the government does not allow. Many people in the camps are only there because of what their past relatives had done just like the caste system in India. There were also pictures every where in the country and people bowed down to it. When the camera was allowed in to the house of the blind old lady, I was flabbergasted at the way they were acting and I even recognized someone writing down the things they were saying to the camera. When the woman asked them if they thought there was anything wrong with the way General Kim was ruling, they did not know how to answer because as she said, there was not a vocabulary to even say something wrong about the government (just like big brother). I became extremely angry when the doctor recovered everyone’s sight and they praised the general instead of the doctor (what the firmament?). On the other hand I understand that they must live up to a certain expectation that the government has for them to follow. I later understood what the woman meant in the beginning about not understanding how the people of North Korea lived unless you lived like them. This is a matter that almost no one has a say in except the government of North Korea and I think that is the reason many people are not educated about the way they live. I think generally, the way we live today is too modern for people to be controlled to such an extent that they do not feel or know what freedom is. The way the people of North Korea are being controlled is more than what big brother is doing or wishes to do.

Reply

Justin

3/2/2010 05:58:09 am

This video was truly shocking. I can’t believe that a society like this actually exists. First of all they were bowing down to their leader. It was a picture at that. He wasn’t even there. It shocks me that they don’t want people from other countries in the society. The man couldn’t even take a picture of the statue. I would think this is a good thing that he is taking a picture of the statue because the person would actually be able to take the picture and worship him later even though that was not the initial idea. I am still amazed that they actually got footage in that country. A dictatorship is a strict society and Kim ll Jung proves it.